65 Shelby Suspension ?'s

Has any one set there 65-66 Mustang up with the Shelby suspension with the wedge kit, lowering springs, boxing the control arms, heavy duty sway bars etc? Looking for opinions on the handling, mistakes made, short cuts, best parts to use etc.
I plan on upgrading my 65 Falcons suspension front and rear along with the steering. I have the quick ratio steering box with the pitman arm, idler arm and all new steering linkages.
I have new control arms, ball joints. I'm planning on the 620# springs unless someone has other thoughts or recommendations.
I had this posted over on the Falcon board but not really any responses over there. Any help would be greatfully accepted. Thanks, Ron

call maeco motorsport 818-701-1923 and talk to mike the owner. they setup and road race gt350's and mike the owner has a profecionally raced 63 falcon thats very fast. back in 1973 i started setting up 65-66 stangs for handling and learned a lot from maeco. 620 springs are good along with a 15/16 front adjustable sway bar , reworked upper arms that not only shorten them but allow you to lower the upper arm more. i use 165 rear springs on the stang but the falcon may require something else. do not use a rear bar !!!! wheels and especially tires are very important. 17" dia ! do not use 18" as the side wall is too short and it will not handle as good as the 17" and kumho extera's are great for the street. either a watts link or panhard bar in the rear to lower the rear roll center so the rear tires hook up in the turns. and yes i set up a couple of stangs with shelby suspension but a set up like this blows the old shelby set up away. use MOOG brand parts and take the bump steer out of the front end. use sperichal rod ends or an aftermarket bearing type kit on the front of the strut rods-do not use polyurathane bushings. for the front spring seat Cobra Automotive Shelby Mustang brakes & suspensions put a solid bushing in place of the rubber.

Thank you for all the info Shift. The last link to Cobra Automotive is only about an hour and a half away from me so I'm going to go over and pay them a visit and check out the shop. This is the info that I was looking for. Thanks again. Ron

Let me tell you what I have done to my 1967 mustang coupe. 1 inch sway bar in front, 620 springs, roller bearing spring perch mounts and lower control arm mount, new ball joints, new upper and lower control arms (stock stamped steel style), negative wedge kit, 5 leaf rear springs, Shelby under-ride bars (will soon have spherical rod ends instead of bushings) and grab a track shocks. The shocks are normal replacement shocks, nothing special and mine are already worn after a few years. I will upgrade to some nicer ones soon. I have also installed a rebuilt steering box and system with a bump-steer kit. the biggest single improvement was the negative wedge kit. Night and day with that. My car now is on par with many new sports cars. Don't get me wrong though, a car like this will never be refined... Its a bumpy unforgiving ride, but its controllable and has tons of grip. Another thing...ADD SUBFRAME CONNECTORS!

Thanks UJT389. I'm going with the KYB Gas Adjusts. I have the sub frame connectors. I have the Shelby style Idler and pitman arms, 3.5 turn PS box with the 1" sector shaft.
I have on my list to get yet:
Under engine frame rail tie bar
Panhard bar for the rear

The rear has 5 leafs with the under rides.
I have make the boxing plates for the control arms, the shock towers. I also want to make some backing plates for the steering box and the idler arm where the bolt through the frame. Nothing really heavy just some 16 gauge to stiffen up the sides of the rails. I have thought about the roller perchs and control arms but I'm not sure of that yet.

My only question is using the wedge kit, did you lower the control arm down an inch or did you go down to 1.5"? I've seen that they drop down to 1.5" when using the wedges. I'm not looking for ride. As long as it will grab some good corners and hold them I'll be happy. Once in awhile out on the track to play and that'll be it. I think I'm going in the right direction.
Thanks again. Ron

I'm also looking at suspension setup's. I drive the car alot. I am looking for a more track oriented suspension. I am looking at the normal shelby drop, the cobra automotive control arms, the street or track tubular control arms, global west, and coil overs. I'd like to hear from all to better understand my options. In the rear i'm doing a watts link and probably some 1 in drop springs with a block or a 2 in drop spring.

i use 69 cougar shock towers in my 65 mustang for w engine header clearance and the longer 68-70 lower a-arm combined with an upper thats .75" shorter and lowered 1.4375" so i get exelent -camber gain in the turns and run -.25 camber setting which puts most of the front tread on the pavement so i can brake late and hard entering a turn and i also get exelent even tread wear for street driving. the 67 lower a-arm can be adapted to the 65-66 by adding a simi box to the back of the shock tower farther inboard from the factory pivot point so the ball joint stays the same distance from the center line of the car as the 65-66 lower arm. i use a .75 spherical bearing for the pivot and box the arm and use MOOG parts.

72gts, I did the full negative wedge kit, it drops the UCA a little more than 1.5 inches. I highly suggest it. It does not affect the ride and gives the car so much more grip its incredible. I still have not got the front to push after adding the negative wedge kit (the back has come loose though!). Yeah, you are on the right track, box things, make them strong (dont add too much weight though) and get the tires to stay flat on the ground, im pretty sure you'll be happy with the neg. wedge kit.

Very cool, thats what I'm looking for. A fun car that I can push into the corners and have the car react positively instead of using the brakes before the corner to get around in one piece.
What are you using for strut rod bushings? I'm reading that the poly will cause bind and that they should be replaced by bearings and solid bushings. I am leaning that way cause I only want to do it once. It's going to be a good ride. I'm sure of that. Thanks again, Ron

Right now I've got the stock ones, but I would recommend bearings. With bearings it makes the suspensions more precise making the car more predictable, and increasing the cornering ability. It also makes the car harsher to ride in and you have to look after them more than bushings. I was actually going to modify the stock strut rod and mount to accept a bit spherical heim joint. But I'm out of the states now so that will happen in a year or so. Lets see some pics of your car.